Forty years ago I would go to the public library and check
out books on programming my Commodore PET computer. I would copy the program into memory on my machine
correcting all the typos until the program would run. I would then study it making modifications to
improve upon the program but mostly to make it my own.
This was the first of many computers I would own in my life. I have lugged this computer around for almost
four decades even though it stopped working halfway through its life with me. Even without working, it was impressive just
to look at. I was sure I would fix it or
do something fun with it someday.
Then about a year ago I looked at it with purging eyes. Most people’s advice was to keep it. It was my first, there was even a very shabby
circuit board addition that I made giving the system sound. I tied an old car speaker to the inside. Redneck can accessorize tech nicely.
But I’m not the nostalgic type at all, why was I keeping
this paperweight? Without hesitation I
listed it on Ebay. Each time someone
made an offer I found a reason to say no.
After tiring of this dance, I reluctantly sold it to someone named Jeff
from Florida.
Jeff not only gave it new life and got it working but he also
hooked up the cassette recorder and downloaded a couple programs I left on it
from the early 80’s. When he told me he
was doing this I got a flashback of a game I remembering fiddling with. You controlled a cursor with a tail and
gobbled up blocks on the screen, the more you got the longer the tail got. I remember trying to fine tune the increasing
speed and rate of growth. This was the program
that he sent me.
Who would have guessed some years later I would be part of the
golden era of PC game making for a couple of decades. I still even have some games selling on Steam
that I help develop.
Thank you Jeff for bringing this all back to me. Jeff is my new friend. Jeff rocks!
He even shared part of his adventure in bringing my PET back to life. https://youtu.be/7OtGxIW-hAA I am very happy for the new life my old
computer has and hope it continues to bring joy to this world. I’m sure there are some words of wisdom about
letting go and all that, but I’ll just leave it here for now…
